1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to improving economy and performance in the operation of internal combustion engines. More particularly, it concerns improvements in alcohol injection systems and methods for internal combustion engines, especially those used to power motor vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a constant demand for improving the performance of internal combustion engines to increase efficiency of operation and, particularly in motor vehicles, to increase the mileage obtained per quantity of fuel used. Numerous approaches to meeting this challange have been tried, e.g., combustion chamber redesign, valve restructuring, and like revisions of the motor mechanisms.
One frequent other approach to improvement is to modify the fuel charge to internal combustion engines rather than changing the engines per se. One path in such approach has been to inject various supplements into the conventional primary fuel stream of vaporized gasoline. Such supplements have included ammonia (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,453), detergent oils (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,687,711 & 4,170,960), alcohols (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,287), water/alcohol mixtures (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,385,593 & 4,519,341) and water (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,907).
As would be expected, a wide variety of devices and methods have be devised to accomplish the injection of these supplements into the primary gasoline fuel stream as shown by the foregoing U.S. patents and numerous others including:
3,530,842 4,076,002 PA1 3,749,376 4,119,062 PA1 3,790, 139 4,364,370 PA1 3,875,922 4,374,597. PA1 1. Improved alcohol injection systems and methods for internal combustion engines powering motor vehicles. PA1 2. Improvement in the operation of internal combustion engines powering motor vehicles to help clean the engines and reduce the amount of environmentally damaging emissions. PA1 3. Unique system and method for improving horsepower and torque output of internal combustion engines powering motor vehicles. PA1 A. providing on the motor vehicle a confined supply of alcohol, PA1 B. pressurizing the confined supply of alcohol with the combustion gases, PA1 C. passing a controlled stream of alcohol from the confined supply to an enclosure defining an upper zone and a lower zone to maintain a volume of the alcohol in the lower zone, PA1 D. charging a stream of air into the volume of the alcohol to vaporize a portion thereof and form vaporized alcohol in the upper zone, PA1 E. causing pressure contained within the enclosure to discharge a stream of the vaporized alcohol from the upper zone of the enclosure through conduit means into the air intake manifold, PA1 F. baffling the stream in its passage from the enclosure to the air intake manifold and PA1 G. causing the stream of the vaporized alcohol to mix with the air passing in the manifold.
The present invention further advances the supplement addition approach to improvement in economy and performance of internal combustion engine driven motor vehicles by new improvements in alcohol injection as a supplement to gasoline fueled internal combustion engines of both the fuel injection and carburetor types.